


More Than Blood

by Ballycastle_Bat



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: And most of the time I was too embarassed to ask for help, Background Relationships, Bilingual Character(s), Caitlin Snow IS calm, Canon Relationships, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, High School, Mental Health Issues, Not a whole lot of pining, On Hiatus, Original Character-centric, Other: See Story Notes, Please Forgive me, Post-Canon, Pre-Season/Series 05, Prom, Teenagers, Temporary Character Death, i don't speak spanish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:58:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ballycastle_Bat/pseuds/Ballycastle_Bat
Summary: (On hiatus + rewriting) Dante Ramon II has a pretty normal life, he goes to school, he works part-time at the local hardware store, oh and he's waiting for his Superpowers to develop. That's normal teenage stuff, right? All his childhood friends have talked about for as long as he can remember is how they can't wait to get out there and fight beside their parents and help them defend the cities they love, but that isn't what he wants.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm super excited about this! It's very much an experemnt though. I'm going to label this gen, because it techinally is based on AO3's definition but someone said that while technically I could readers might disagree, but to be clear all romantic relationships are minor and on the back burner and alwas come secindnto the family/platonic relationships.
> 
> This is sort of meant to take place in a timeline before or where Nora hasn't made any changes the timeline where she goes back in time. Also Oliver was never exposed as the Green Arrow.
> 
> I do have plans for this that I'm excited about but I have to get through character building first.

“Mrs. West-Allen?”

Dante found Iris seated in the Cortex at one of the monitors, looking busy. He almost felt bad bothering her but there really wasn't anyone else in the lab that he could find.

“Yeah, sweetie?” she turned to face the teenager with a bright smile. 

“Have you seen my father? I tried to ask Mr. Allen but he proudly informed me that my father was on the ‘proud badger’ and I didn't have the heart to ask him to just speak English…” he trialled off. Barry had been trying to learn Spanish since the day Dante was born, it hadn't worked out so well, on the days his word choice was most accurate, his grammar was bad, when his grammar was right, he messed up keywords. 

“He's helping out a friend on another earth. It's nothing serious so I'm sure he’ll be back soon.” Iris informed him with a smile. “Do you need something? I'm sure one of us here could help you out.”

“I just need him to sign my permission slip for the Iron Heights field trip.”

“Oh,  _ I _ can do that.” Iris waved her and forward dismissively and pulled a pen out of her purse. 

“How?”

“I’m really good at forging signatures.” Iris shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh okay.” He reached into his backpack. It was blue monochrome with white trim. He pulled out the slip and passed it to Iris who signed it. 

“There you go!” she smiled. 

Just then Cisco vibed himself into the Cortex. He pulled off his goggles and started at his gloves. This was an occurrence that Dante was long since used to.

“You need something Kiddo?” he asked, it was a bit unusual for him to just show up at the lab, he didn't make a habit of hanging out there. He was usually only there with Nora, whom they couldn't keep out of the speed lab. 

Dante definitely looked like his father, but aspects of his mother shone through. The teenager was tall, and his hair was full like his father’s but not quite as long. It framed his face in defined waves like a mane and was just as dark as Cisco’s.

“I needed a permission slip for school, but Mrs. West-Allen helped me.” 

Cisco held up his hand for a high five. “Plus five resourcefulness. That's my boy!” he beamed proudly and Dante slapped his hand against his.

“Well, I'm going to be late for school--” 

There was a flash of lightning and suddenly Nora West-Allen was beside him.

“There you are, you dork! I've been texting you,” she complained, crossing her arms.

“Did you even wait for texts to deliver Lady Speedster?” He asked, giving his friend a doubtful look.

“Yes,” she said proudly, but suddenly Dante’s pocket was buzzing.

“No.” he laughed and pulled his phone out and glanced at the texts

**Nora Just now:** _ Where are you? I'm waiting outside. _

**Nora Just now:** _ Danteeeee _

**Nora Just now:** _ You butt head if you're asleep-- _

Dante laughed softly at the texts. 

“Do you guys need a ride?” Iris offered. 

“They're fine. If they run late Dante can just vibe them or well, she’s fast,” said Cisco. 

“Yeah. We’ll just walk, it's fine,” said Nora, quickly getting them out of S.T.A.R. Labs. When they were clear of their parents Nora stuffed her hands into her pockets. “Are you ever going to talk to your dad about--” she made a gesture like she was opening a breach.

“Not yet.” he shook his head. “I don't want to let him down.”

“You're not going to let him down! Look, it’s been pretty much proven with us that there is no rhyme or reason as to when we get our powers. I only  _ just _ got mine recently--”

“I know.” Dante laughed. “You stopped walking places at a normal speed.” 

“My uncle Wally’s twins got their powers pretty much in the womb. I swear those gremlins were  _ born _ with the speed force in them-- and my sister Esther doesn't have her powers yet.” 

“Yeah, but I mean … I don't really … Nevermind.” he continued to walk down the road. “Anyways, have you hit Mach six yet?” he asked, changing the subject quickly. 

“No, I haven't. Something is blocking me, I'm so close it's just one last hurdle. I know I can get it.”

“Maybe you need to just to take a break,” he suggested. “Speaking of taking a break ... you know--”

“Dante! Nora!” Called a voice from behind them. “Wait for me!” 

The teenagers sighed heavily and stopped, turning to see their friend Kyle. Kyle was a few years younger than them, Caitlin’s only child. 

“We’re waiting on you, Kye,” called Nora. Kyle quickly caught up to them. When he caught up, Dante threw an arm over his shoulder. 

“Running late, cuz?” 

“Yes. I slept in.” he laughed, brushing some of his hair from his eyes. Kye, who definitely had metahuman DNA, hadn't gotten his powers yet either. Even though everyone hoped he would, as it would greatly improve his health issues, or so Caitlin theorized.

* * *

In Science, Nora nudged Dante’s arm when Mr. Langdon was focused on Jerry Larken’s failure of an experiment. The kid had gotten into AP Science on grades, but he wasn't very good at the  _ applied  _ part of applied sciences.

“What?” he asked, pulling his gaze from the beaker of blue liquid that heating on the bunsen burner. 

“You were saying something earlier when Kye showed up. What was it?” she brought up again, now that they finally had a class together. They only had two classes together, Science and P.E.

“Oh, well I was just thinking about how prom is coming up and that's supposed to be like this big high school milestone--”

“I know, really lame, isn't it? Ugh, just an excuse for my dad to cry at my existence and spend way too much money on a dress I'll wear once.” she rolled her eyes. “Then they shove it down our throats like it's the most important thing ever,” she added a bit of a reddish liquid to the beaker on Dante’s side of the table. 

“Yeah … it's really overrated.”

“Oh my gosh, Dante.” she covered her mouth, realising she had been too honest again-- she got that from her mother. “Were you planning on going?” 

“oh no, not really. I just thought of it was something you wanted to do we could just go together.” he shrugged.

“It would be a lot less lame as a group!” she agreed, not realising he had mentioned he wanted them to go  _ together _ . “I wonder if we could convince Chloe to drive out-- I don't know if my uncle would be cool with that though. Maybe if I offered to pick her up? He’d probably be all over you though. We can't lie and say there won't be boys because my dad would definitely say something. William would probably cover for us if we bribed him though, maybe say she's staying with him?” she began to talk a million miles an hour and Dante couldn't help but smile. “This could be  _ so _ fun! We should invite James too, and even We wouldn't even need to stay at prom the whole time we could totally just walk around the city.”

“That sounds great, actually.” Dante smiled and added a yellow chemical to their mix. “Honestly that's way better than anything I could have come up with.” he was being genuine, sure he had spent about fifteen minutes in the mirror that morning practising the line  _ Do you want to go to prom … with me? _ but in honesty, this arrangement sounded much better to him.

“I wonder if I can sneak some Speedster Elixir from your dad.” she mused. 

“That's not a good idea.” Dante cautioned. 

“Why not? I'm sure other kids will be drinking.”

“Well yeah but  _ other kids _ won't be drinking--” he dropped his voice low. “alcohol designed for a grown man with a metabolism that moves at the speed of sound.” 

“I suppose you're right.” she sighed. “Speaking of speedsters, I tried to go on a mission with my dad yesterday, and you know what he did?”

“What did he do?”

“He said  _ no _ !” her tone was scandalized. 

“Wow, you mean your dad didn't let his teenage daughter run into a burning building?  _ La pobrecita _ !” he pouted at her.

“No seas gilipollas.” 

“That pronunciation was  _ really _ bad! My dad’s right, we’ve got to work on your Spanish.” he teased. “Why are you so eager to run out and get yourself killed?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“This is what I've dreamed of since I got these powers.” she reminded him. “That's what all of us have dreamed of, right? Getting out there and joining our parents in protecting the multiverse?”

“Class dismissed. Dante Ramon, would you stay behind for a moment?” Mr. Langdon’s voice cut through the chattering group of students.

“Oh jeez, what did you do?” Nora pushed his shoulder. “Want me to stay behind? He likes me so he might not yell.”

“No, it's fine. You go on ahead.” he waved her off, hoping she would listen. “I'll see you at lunch.”

Nora hesitantly agreed and headed on to her third-period class. Dante rose from his seat and approached the front. 

Mr. Langdon smiled widely. He was a short man with long hair and tiny eyes in proportion to his face.

“Great work today, Mr. Ramon. I finished that recommendation letter you asked for. Good luck with your studies.” he handed him a white envelope.

With a very gracious  _ thank you _ Dante put the note in his backpack and hurried off to his third-period class.

 

When P.E. rolled around Dante was feeling extremely confident. They were running today and now that Nora had her powers, it was the only time he could keep up with her, and occasionally surpass her running speed. She couldn't tap into the speedforce with the entire student body watching. 

“Hey, Dante!” a tall figure blue eyeglasses appeared in his locker bay and pulled his shirt over his head. Satcher Melvin.

“Hey, Satch” he nodded to the other boy and pulled on his gym shirt. 

“I was wondering … you and Nora West-Allen are close. Do you know if she got asked to prom yet?” He pulled his gym shirt over his athletic frame.

“She's actually not big on the whole thing, and we actually just agreed to go as a group this morning with some of our family. Want to join us?” 

“Sure, could be fun!” he agreed with a nod.

 

On the track, Nora and Dante were jogging together.

“Satch wanted to ask you to prom so I invited him to join our group I hope that's fine,” said Dante as he came into an easy jog beside her. 

“Satch? Yeah, that's totally fine!” she smiled. “He's a nice guy, not really my type though.” she laughed.

“Since when do you have a  _ type _ ?”

“Since always? I just don't talk to you about boys.”

“Why not?” he asked curiously. He honestly didn't see why that wouldn't be something they talked about. She told him just about everything else.

“I mean, aren’t you straight? I'm sure you don't want to hear me talking about wanting to lick Tyler Johnson’s abs.” she laughed and visibly put effort into passing him.

“Okay, you're right.” he laughed, screwing up his face. “Please keep that to yourself.”

“I guess I also don't really talk about it because I don't need a boyfriend. Too much trouble,” she shrugged and slowed down to a light jog.

“Right, I forgot. You'd rather rush off and throw yourself into fires,” he rolled his eyes at her.

“You say that like it's crazy, but someday soon you and I are going to take up the mantle as defenders of Central City! It's going to be great, Dante, just wait. We’re going to be the best team this city has ever seen.” her whole face lit up when she talked about it, and Dante couldn't help but smile. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. 

“You don't sound excited.” she accused. “This is only what we’ve been talking about for, I don't know. Our entire lives?” she gave him a look.

_ It's what you've been talking about our entire lives. _ He thought to himself. Sure, he had memories of running around the grounds of Queen manor with Chole, pretending to fight evil metahumans, but that was never where his heart lied, not really.

“I've just got a bad feeling about today.” he shrugged. 

“It’ll be okay.” Nora smiled. “We’ll figure it out together!” she nudged his arm. “Are you working after school?”

“Nope. I work tomorrow though, all morning.” 

“Good!” she replied. “Because I have to babysit the twins and I'm not looking forward to it.”

“That's a lie. You're always begging Mr. West to bring Dawn and Don over.” he rolled his eyes.

* * *

“Hey, cut it out! You can't push me around just because you want to!” Kye shouted as a lanky boy shoved him hard into a locker.

“Make me.”

Dante was on his way to lunch when he came upon the scene. He felt a heat in his face.

The boy, who was a lot larger than Kye, who was already decent sized himself, was holding the front of his shirt in his fist.

“You going to watch where you're going you little shit-face?” he snapped.

“Hey, McGruiver,” said Dante making his way over. “Get your hands off of him, now.” 

“This is none of your business, Ramon.”

“That's my brother so yes it  _ is _ my business,” he said seriously. “Do you want to let go or am I going to go get my friends and are we going to teach you not to mess with our family?”

McGruiver let go of Kye’s shirt. “Listen, I didn't know he was your brother.” he managed before clearing out.

He made his way over to Kye and placed his hands on his shoulders. 

“You good, man?” he asked, then he noticed the blue tint to that other boy's lips. “Hey buddy, you're okay. Where is your inhaler?”

“Kitchen--” she took a shaky breath and coughed. “--counter.”

Dante dropped his backpack on the floor and made Kye sit down on the floor beside him before opening the front pouch of his backpack and feeling around inside. 

“It's going to be alright. I have a spare one in here somewhere.” said Dante as he sighed in frustration and opened another pocket “There.” he pulled out the inhaler out of his bag. It was small so it took him a while to find it. Making sure to shake it thoroughly he helped Kye take the medication. 

“Excuse me, young man, what did you give him?” asked a teacher coming into view. Of course, the only thing a passing teacher witnessed was him giving Kye a medication. 

“I had a spare inhaler for him, he had an asthma attack, sir,” said Dante before he stood. 

“We have a very strict substances policy.”

“With all due respect sir, my brother is one of the ten percent of asthma suffers who deals with life-threatening reactions. If I wasn't here he could have died,” he said, a bit too clinically but it got the point across.

“It's out of my hands, we’ll take Mr. Snow to the nurse's office and we'll talk to your dean.”

* * *

“Dante?” came Cisco’s voice as he entered the dean's office.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Ramon--” the Dean started but Cisco cut him off. 

“My son speaks first,” said Cisco seriously. He moved and sat in the chair beside Dante. “I want you to tell me if it's true. Did you have drugs?” Cisco asked seriously. He had honestly hoped there would be a better explanation, he couldn't think of anything Dante would have had on his person.

“Yes, it’s true,” said Dante. “but they're blowing it out of proportion, Papá. Kye was--”

“Wait, Kye?” he raised his eyebrows and looked at the dean. “What exactly did you take from him?” things were starting to become more clear now. 

“A very strong inhaler, Mr. Ramon. We have very strict rules about this sort of thing.” 

“So if Kye had used his own inhaler he would have been suspended too?”

“No. Kyle Snow’s mother filled out the required paperwork. He has permission to carry a substance on his person. Your son does not.”

“That is the biggest load of bullshit  I have ever heard. My nephew could have  _ died _ if Dante didn't have that inhaler. So what? Are you going to give him detention? Because I can tell you right now I'm walking out of this building with my son who did  _ nothing _ wrong.”

“That won’t be a problem.  _ Your son _ is suspended for two weeks.”

“You'll be hearing from my lawyer,” Cisco replied plainly. “Dante, get your bag we’re going to check on Kye then we’re going home.”

* * *

“How are you feeling?” Cisco asked.

“I'm okay, Cisco. What happened with the dean?” Kye asked, putting away the homework he had started to work on once his breathing was under control. 

“Don't worry about it. I would take you home but school security is really tight these days so they won't let me, but I can stay with you until your mom comes of you'd like.” 

“I'll be okay.” He insisted. “I'll see you at home.” 

Cisco nodded and left with Dante, heading out to the parking lot. Dante stayed silent, he was embarrassed. He didn't know what his father was thinking. 

“You're pretty quiet, you okay, mi hijo?”

“Are you disappointed? That I got caught? This is going to go on my record.” he asked, having no idea what his dad was thinking. 

“No. You did absolutely the right thing. I don't give a crap what the dean has to say. Also, that permanent record thing is a myth.” 

“I’m sorry I got caught. You won't tell Abula, will you?”

“I'm not telling her anything don't worry.” he patted his shoulder. 

It wasn't long before Caitlin arrived home with Kye. “It's okay honey, go get some rest. I'll be with you in a little bit.” she patted Kye on the back. “Dante?” she called. 

“We’re in the kitchen,” said Cisco.

Caitlin emerged from the front hall and smiled. 

“Thank you so much for being there for Kyle. It means a lot to me that you were so prepared.”

“You're not mad at me for taking one of his inhalers from the lab?”

“No. I taught you how to use them when you were younger for this reason.”

“Papá, will I be able to get into a university with this on my record?”

“Of course you can. I mean not a fancy one but Central City University should take you no issue.” Cisco shrugged his shoulders.

Dante stared at the island, not sure what to say to that.

“Someone fill me in?” Caitlin looked confused.

“I'm calling one of Oliver’s lawyers tonight because they suspended him.”

“For  _ what _ ?” Caitlin demanded. “He doesn't even talk back to his teachers.” 

“Apparently, according crazy new and improved school rules, carrying an unregistered inhaler to save your cousin’s life counts as a controlled substance and is punishable by suspension.”

“ _ Excuse me _ ?” Caitlin looked at Cisco in disbelief. “Oh no. I'm going to call them.” Caitlin pulled out her cellphone, copying the number off the fridge. “Hello, please direct me to Principal McCall.”

“Oh man is she really going to--”

“Yes, hello. My name is Caitlin Snow. My son Kyle Snow attends your school as a Freshmen. He is severely Asthmatic. He falls into the ten perfect of patients who can suffer lethal Asthmatic symptoms. Do you know what that means? Yes, he could die. His cousin Dante had a spare inhaler and found him right when he had an attack. Only for me to find out that he was suspended for having it! You need to re-evaluate your policies, a kid almost died and you've punished the person who prevented that-- you're absolutely right there was some kind of mistake!-- I am calm, you don't want to see me  _ not _ calm. Look, just what is it going to take to fix this? I have a doctorate in biochemistry. Do I need to write a note?”

Dante dropped his head into his hands with a sigh, there was no stopping her now. If there was one thing he knew about his aunt Caitlin, it was that there was no possible way that they could stop her once she started. There was no question that he admired his aunt, who was more like a mother to him. 

Dante’s mother passed shortly after he was born, leaving him with no memory of her. Upon her death, Caitlin moved in with Cisco to help with Dante and never left. In a way Caitlin was his mother, in the way that Joe West was Barry Allen’s father. For this, Dante was always grateful.

He loved her to death, he just wished that she was a little less involved sometimes.

“Why don't you go talk to your cousin? I'll try to prevent Killer Frost from marching down to the school and icing the place.” Cisco patted Dante’s shoulder.

Kye sat at his desk in his room, sketching intently.

“Why did you tell him that I'm your brother?” asked Kye when Dante sat down at the desk in the room.

“Because you're my family and none of us are going to let people treat you like that. If anyone gives you trouble tell them you're a Ramon and a West-Allen.” people at West Central High knew that you didn't mess with them. They made it clear from day one that they refused to be pushed around. Having family members who taught them hand to hand combat from a young age was probably a contributing factor to their confidence.

“Okay.” He nodded. “I'm sorry you got suspended over me.” 

“That’s not your fault. It looks like this all might be sorted anyway, your mom calmly discussing the station with the principal.”

* * *

Cisco blinked and Nora was in the living room.

“Okay nuh-uh. This isn't allowed!” said Cisco, shaking his finger at Nora. He was  _ not _ having this.

“What?” asked Nora, visibly confused.

“I dealt with this from your father for  _ twenty  _ years before you came along. Turn your little butt around and use the front door like a normal person.” 

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, yes, go  _ andale _ !” 

Nora flashed to the front door and with an exasperated sigh, she knocked.

Cisco made his way to the front door and opened it, pulling a stage voice he said.

“Well, if it isn't my amazing, goddaughter who I love very much using the front door like a normal person.”

“Hola tittos.” 

“Your Spanish needs work, but still better than your dad. What were you going for?” 

“Well, I didn’t know the word for godfather so I tried for  _ uncle. _ ”

“Close, we’ll work on that. Anyways the boys are upstairs some stuff happened today.  _ Walk _ up the stairs.”

Nora rolled her eyes and headed towards the stairs, she went to greet Caitlin but decided against it when she heard. “--Do  _ you  _ have a doctorate in Biochemistry, sir?--” so instead she just headed up the stairs. 

“Why is Caitlin losing it?” asked Nora when she used her speed to locate the boys.

“Well, my dean decided that Kye’s spare inhaler was equal to a bottle of Speed and suspended me for two weeks.” 

“Ugh.” she rolled her eyes. “Dumb. You okay Kye?” she asked. 

“I'm totally fine.” he gave her a thumbs up. “I just feel bad Dante got in trouble. I'm tired if McGruiver messing with me.” 

“That clown? What happened?”

“It wasn't that bad. I had it handled.”

“Alright, well text me if you need anything. I need to steal Dante for a bit.” 

Kye nodded and the two older teens headed into Dante’s room so he could drop off the books he didn't need.

“What’s this?” she reached for a pamphlet on his desk, which he grabbed. 

“Just something Mr. Langdon gave me when they made us go I'm for all those career tests.” he shrugged and ditched most of his books onto his desk. “Please don't run me to your house.” 

“Don't worry.” Nora laughed. “I have  _ some _ self-control.”

* * *

Back at the West-Allen house, the living room was mostly quiet-- for now. Dante was focused on reading this English book and Nora was laid across the sofa with her head on his thigh. Her foot bouncing just above the floor; she had a hard time sitting still and had spent the first fifteen minutes home using he speedforce to find a comfortable spot to sit in, much to Dante’s amusement. They were waiting on Nora’s uncle Wally to arrive with his kids.

“Hey kids,” said Barry coming through the front door. “Nora, a live animal package just came for you.” He smiled and in a blink Nora retrieved the package from her father.

“What is it?” asked Dante.

“Come see!” she grinned and brought the box up the stairs. “My dad’s got this friend who studies insects and other invertebrates-- She apparently wanted me to have this girl--”

Dante watched as she cut the box open.

“Are you still afraid of spiders?” asked Nora nonchalantly as she pulled a note from the box and read it over. Speed force flashed in her eyes for a fraction of a second.

“Of course not. I got over that years ago.” he crossed his arms.

Nora reached up and opened an enclosure on her desk before removing a large Tupperware container from the box. She opened the container and pulled out a piece of paper aside. 

in the container, nestled in paper towels was a large tarantula. Nora nudged the creature by lightly poking its leg with a paintbrush, it moved slowly and she allowed the arachnid to scale its way onto her hand. 

Dante leaned forward to see the spider, it was a deep reddish orange with a series of yellow markings that almost looked like lightning bolts. He realised why Mr. Allen’s friend wanted Nora to have it. 

“Do you want me to nudge her onto your arm?” she grinned, excited about her new pet. 

“Do you want this friendship to be over?” he asked pointedly, stepping away from the hairy creature.

“Baby.” She rolled her eyes and let the creature crawl off her hands and into the enclosure she had set up for it.

“It's not my fault you like weird things.”

“Well, my dad’s friend said she already fed her this week so she probably won't eat, I'll try when the twins leave, that way you don't have to watch.”

They blinked and Barry was in the room only long enough for Dante to register it but by the time he processed the situation, Barry was gone. He must have talked to her in Flashtime.

“Uncle Wally is here,” she said, closing the tarantula enclosure and starting to head out of the room.

“Nora!” Wally speed forced his way up to his niece and wrapped her up in a nearly bone-crunching hug. Dante hung back a bit.

“Hey, Wally.” She smiled. “Where are the twins?” 

Wally pointed to the playpen set up in the living room, it was incredibly large, circling around the sofa and the coffee table. Inside were two curly haired children, a boy and a girl who were occupied with a small pile of barbies. 

“Okay, so.” Wally started. “The playpen dampener has a Chord and a battery backup. It should hold just fine, if they need to leave it for long periods of time, there are wristbands on the counter. Are you two sure you're up for this?” he checked.

“We’re fine, go enjoy date night!” she grinned and went to sit with the kids. She pulled Dawn into her lap and kissed her on the cheek. 

Wally stepped forward and gave Dante a hug.

“Thanks for helping out, man.” He said before heading over to the twins. “Okay, now Mommy and Daddy are going to go out for a little bit so you need to be extra good for Nora and Dante, alright?”

“Oh, they're always good!” Nora insisted “ _ Cutie patooties _ !” she crooned. “What's her name?” she asked, picking up a short-haired Barbie. 

“That's Becca!” Said Don with a grin. 

“Okay, so, we have Becca and who's this?” she picked up another. 

“Harry!” Said, Dawn. 

“Okay, we all know that's a lie,” said Wally but he kissed his kids on the head. “Thank you so much, I really appreciate it,” he said before leaving.

Dante came and sat down with them, easily falling into their pretend game. After a bit, they turned on some kids movies. Dante got out of the pen to make popcorn. 

“I want to go fast!” Dawn complained. 

“Not right now, sweetie. If you're good, then later we can go run together, okay?” 

“Okay.” She pouted. 

The kids were mostly well behaved, an  _ extremely _ rare event. There were more solar eclipses than there were days that the twins were well behaved. When Wally came to collect them they were asleep on the sofa, curled up in Nora’s lap. Dante next to them, nearly nodding off himself. He was exhausted if he was going to let himself be honest, pushing himself too hard and stretching himself too thin.

“How were they?” asked Wally when he stepped into the gate.

“They were surprisingly really good!” Nora smiled. “They just wanted to play with their barbies and watch movies, we went to the speed lab for a little bit but they got tired surprisingly fast.” 

“That's good, I'm glad. Sorry, I'm late.” he handed them each a bill. 

“Mr. West I can't accept this.” said Dante, glancing at the note in his hand. Fifty dollars was a lot more than he usually gave them.

“Yes you can. I was a few hours later than I normally am and two speedsters are a lot more work than your average toddlers.” he waved it off.

“But sir--”

“I'm not taking it back.” said Wally with a laugh then turned to Nora. “Tell grandpa I'll see him later and that Linda and I aren't going to make it to family dinner on Friday.” he said before him and his wife left with the twins.

“Why are you so tired?” asked Nora, momentarily channeling her mother.

“I've been picking up a lot of hours at the hardware store.” he yawned.

The following Saturday, Dante headed into work and punched in. He was getting ready for a long day. He headed into the back and quickly punched in.

“Hey, Dante. I didn't think you were working today.” Patrice commented from the table by the fridge.

“I’m covering for Lisa.” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, you've been doing that a lot. Don't you have ..."

“A life?” he finished her sentence. 

“I didn’t mean like  _ that _ .” she rolled her eyes at him. “I meant you're a teenager, don't you have a girlfriend or something? Boyfriend maybe?” she pressed. “It's the weekend and you're young. You should be having fun.”

“No.” he said a little too quickly.

“You answered pretty fast.”

“Well, there's kind of a girl.” he shrugged with the words, not too focused on the conversation.

“And?”

“And right now I'm focused on my family.”

“Is everything alright?” a look of concern crossed her face.

“Yeah. It's just a whole mess, my cousin is really sick and my school is throwing a fit over me having his medication on me,” he shrugged. “Meanwhile I'm just trying to save money for college.”

“That never would have happened when I was in high school, what the hell--”

“Ramon,” the manager cut them off. “There’s a customer in Isle four who needs help and they're speaking spanish. He's an older man.” she informed him, pushing her glasses further on her puggish face. 

“I'm on it.” 

He headed out of the back room and located the man in question. 

“Don,” he started. “ _ do you need any help today? _ ”

“ _ Yes, I'm looking for the paint. _ ”

“ _ That’s down this way. _ ” 

As they made their way down the man began to tell Dante that they were painting a nursery for his granddaughter. He helped the man get the paint order in before going to check the shelves in the plumbing supply isle.

* * *

“All I'm saying is, Jumper would be a cool name for you.” said Nora from the back of the bus. They were on their way to their iron heights girls trip.

“You know my dad is all about the names.” he pointed out, in hopes of changing the subject. “He’ll think of something.”

“I'm going to go with Bullet.” she grinned. 

“I like it!” 

Satcher squeezed his way to the back of the bus, the seats across from Nora and Dante were empty, so he sat on the end, his feet in the isle slightly so he could face them.

“Hey, guys. Can you  _ believe _ they're bringing us here? I mean, I know Central City has a bit of crime but if they wanted to scare us straight they could just show us footage of the  _ Flash _ taking down bad guys. That would be a little less traumatizing than prisoners telling us about how they fear for their lives on the daily.” that was probably one of the first times he had ever mentioned ed the Flash. Satcher wasn't interested in the city’s heros.

“I don't know, man.” said Dante with a laugh. 

Eventually, the bus came to a stop and Mr. Smith stood and attempted to get the attention of the chatty teens. 

“Okay, listen up kids.” he began, patting one of the bus seats. “I want you all to be on your best behaviour and follow the rules, file out now.” 

Nora stood but she and Dante had wedged themselves into the seats at the back of the bus. She knew she would see Chole today so that was good. Soon she and Dante were able to make their way to the front.

They go toff the bus and behan searching for Chloe's bus. It didn't take them long to spot it and soon Chloe and Nora had linked arms and quickly began discussing their plan for Prom.

“Okay, so I'm thinking I can convince my dad to let me go.  _ If  _ I can convince William to chaperone, but he hates parties.

“It’s hardly a party, he wouldn't be allowed into prom. Visitors have to be twenty-three or younger.”

“Maybe if he picks us up?”

“I'll try. Are you guys still coming up this weekend?” 

“Yeah, I think James is coming up too. I don't know though. I haven't heard from him in a while. I hope he's not ghosting me.” 

“He’s not. He’s in s pre-college program that takes up a lot of his time.”

“Are you guys going to go out, or what?” Nora teased, poking her ribs.

“Me and James?  _ No way _ . I just have fun kicking his ass.” she laughed out loud, Chloe, unlike William, was extremely interested in learning anything her father was willing to teach her. “Besides, dating Jeremy when he moved to Cali was hard enough. I don't want a boyfriend from another  _ country _ .” she said, not about to announce to the class that they earth-hop on a semi-regular basis.

The tour was uneventful, for the most part, except when they were shown the cells. 

_ Henry Allen was here _

_ So was Barry _

Nora stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it from the hallway. 

“What are you looking at-” Dante asked, craning hi head, and them he saw it tool “I'm sure it's not him.”

“My grandfather’s name was Henry.” said Nora simply.

When the tour was finished and the three were on the back of the bus Dante tried to get Nora to talk to him, but she wouldn't. Pulling out her cell phone she Googled  _ Bartholomew Allen iron heights  _ and was met with dozens of results.

  * _Like Father Like Son? Barry Allen, Son of Infamous Henry Allen to Serve Life in Iron Heights_


  * _CSI Barry Allen Found Guilty_


  * _CCPD’S Own Barry Allen receives life Sentence for Murder_



Nora silently passes Dante the phone. 

“Nora, wait I'm sure--”

“What's wrong?” asked Satcher.

Nora Just shrunk down in her seat. She felt like her entire world was shattering. She didn't want it to be real, she didn't want to think about her father killing someone. Not when he had always preached about finding other ways.

* * *

“Tell me about Clifford Devoe. Tell me right now.” Nora stormed into her parent’s room after school.

Barry jumped slightly, he sat on his bed, pouring over a case for his day job. Upon hearing the name his head shot up.

“Who told you about that?” he asked her very seriously.

“No one had to tell me. I saw the note you and Grandpa Henry left on that cell in iron heights and Google filled in the gaps.” 

“Come here, Nora.” Barry reached out to her, but she jerked away.

“No, no. Don't touch me. Did you kill that man, dad? Did you stalk him and his wife?” she demanded.

“Nora Elizabeth West-Allen.” -- Nora was glaring at the floor. -- “Sweetheart, look at me.” -- Nora reluctantly glanced up at her father. “I swear to you that I did  _ not _ murder Clifford DeVoe.”

Nora came and sat on the bed, Barry pulled her into his arms.

“Listen to me, my beautiful girl,” he kissed the top of her head. “Around the time I married you mother, I was up against a serious foe. He wanted to brainwash the world because he believed that would save it. He found a way to frame me for his own murder, and I spent some time in Iron Heights, but I did  _ not _ murder Clifford DeVoe.” 

“What else don't I know?” 

“We can talk about that another time. I've faced a lot of evil, that's why I don't want you to run out there with me just yet … but you know what happened two years after I defeated DeVoe?”

“No.”

“Your mother and I found out that we were going to have you, and it was one of the best moments in my life.” he smiled. 

“Did you cry?” Nora teased. 

“Yeah. I was at work with Grandpa Joe. Your mother called me and told me the news and it was all waterworks from there. Joe thought something was wrong for a second.” he laughed a little.

“Well, you're probably going to cry again, because I'm going to prom,” she laughed a little. She trusted her dad when he told her the truth and wasn't as upset anymore. 

“I thought you hated stuff like that?” Barry assumed. 

“Yeah, but Dante suggested we go as a group, so we’re inviting everyone. Chloe really wants to go and I'm going to call James this week. Unless Dante decides to go there this week.” she explained.

“That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.”

* * *

Dante approached his father in the Lab, once again seeming a little out place.

“Papá. Um. I need to talk to you.” 

Cisco was hunched over a pile of electronics that Dante didn't have the smallest hope of identifying. 

“What's up?” asked Cisco, turning to face his son. 

“I've been avoiding talking about it, but I … haven't gotten my powers yet.” he admitted. 

“Oh, that's okay!” Cisco clapped him on the shoulder. “I'm sure you'll get them soon.”

“Right … anyways, could you vibe me to the DEO? I'll be able to get back, but getting there would be hard.” 

“Sure, just try to be back by dinner or Cait will think you're dead. Which will lead to her killing both of us.” he laughed softly, lifting his hand and opening a breach which Dante stepped into without a second thought. This was his normal, and he tried not to think about that fact.


	2. Chapter 2

Dante crash-landed in the D.E.O. He sighed, having been distracted on his way over he forgot to make sure he landed on his feet. A slender but strong hand, wrapped around Dante’s arm and pulled him effortlessly into a standing position and began brushing the cross-universe debris from his shoulders where it had clung to the fabric of his shirt. 

Dante looked up and saw that it was Supergirl who had helped him. He felt his cheeks get a bit warm.

“Thanks-- I mean thank you, ma’am-- er Supergirl.” he felt a heat in his cheeks. He was extremely grateful that Chole wasn't there to make fun of how he seemed to lose his words around Supergirl.

“No worries,” she smiled brightly at him. “Are you okay?” she gave him a once over and he assumed she used her x-ray vision to check for any breaks in his bones.

“I'm fine, thanks. Is Director Danvers here?”

“Yeah, she's actually in the shooting range right now though, so let me call her.” she pressed her comms. “Hey, Alex. Dante Ramon from Earth One is looking for you--” she looked at Dante. “She's just about done, she’ll meet you in the front. You can go wait by the front, where Winn is. I have to take care of a bank robber-- just another Tuesday, yeah?” Supergirl took off out of the D.E.O.

Dante headed down the stairs to wait for Director Danvers, he wasn't really sure what to do with himself. He greeted Winn but he seemed busy so he didn't say much else.

“Dante, what brings you here? I hope everything is alright on your earth?” Director Danvers came into view.

“It’s all fine. I want to apply to colleges here. Any idea how I could do that?”

“Oh. Sure, just give me a sec.” she turned to a D.E.O agent, and quickly gave them an order in some military speak Dante didn't quite understand. Alex gestured for Dante to follow her and she headed down a hallway.

Dante kept up with her and he was eventually lead back to a room that seemed to be made of filing cabinets. The files lined the walls which reached far above his own head. 

“Let's see…” she skimmed the different files until she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Here we go!” she smiled and passed him a folder. “If you fill these out, I can get you everything you need to start applying for college here.” she smiled. 

“Thank you, Ms Danvers.”

“Absolutely. What do you want to study?” she asked curiously, heading out of the room with him.

“BioMed,” he smiled proudly. 

“Woah! Awesome dude. Your dad must be proud.” 

“I haven't told him yet,” Dante admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why not?” her eyebrows pulled together. 

“He thinks I want to take over for him at S.T.A.R. Labs so…” 

“I'm sure he'll be happy … I don't think your dad expects  _ that _ much from you, Dante. He’d want you to have the life you want.” 

“I don't know, he always gets excited when we talk about my powers-- that I don't even have yet. I'm wondering if I'll ever get them at this point.” he ran a hand through his hair. “Anyway. Thank you again for the help.” 

 

**Earth One**

“Oh good you're home!” beamed Caitlin when Dante headed into the house after that evening. He sighed and rubbed his face, he was worried about Nora and honestly hoped her and her father would be able to work things out.

“Hey, Aunt Cait.” he smiled at her, entering the kitchen. “Why are you in such a good mood?”

“I just conducted a  _ slight _ abuse of power but I think it will send just the right message to the school board.” she seemed proud of herself.

“Oh really? What is it?”

“You, Nora, and Esher are now registered to carry Kye’s type of inhaler wherever you please, thanks to several doctor notes I will be hand delivering to your dean.”

“That's great!”

“Sadly though, we’re still fighting with the board on getting your record cleared up.” 

“Cait?” Dante rubbed his hands together anxiously. 

“Hmm?”

_ I want to be a doctor. _

“Thanks for fighting for me. You always do and it really means a lot to me,” he said seriously. “I really appreciate everything you do for us.” the ‘family’ had a habit of underappreciating Caitlin at best and taking advantage of her at worst.

“Aw,” Caitlin stepped forward and wrapped Dante up in a hug. “Anything for my favourite nephew.”

When they broke apart Dante shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I wanted to ask you something,” his eyes watched her expression carefully for her response. “You test our blood once a year, yeah?” 

“Yes.” she raised her eyebrows at him.

“I'm definitely a metahuman, right?”

Caitlin nodded but was silent for a moment. “Of course you're a meta, why wouldn't you be?”

“Well, I don't have my powers at all yet and I don't want to let my dad down. I think he wants me to take over for him and stuff but I don't think I have any powers.”

“Dante. Your father wants you to be happy. I promise.”

* * *

The following weekend, Nora arrived in Star City. It was still early in the day so when she hit the side road, she decided to walk to Queen Manor at a somewhat normal pace. She loved the property, it was so different from Central city, it was open and alive. You could see the whole sky here, not blocked by buildings and street lights. She could remember the nights that she and Chloe would watch the stars… She was knocked from her daydream when she reached the door.

“Hey there, kiddo!” Oliver grinned when he saw Nora. “Give me a hug.” he opened her arms and Nora hugged him, he lifted her off the floor slightly before letting her go.

“Is it true that my dad made you a hugger? He brags about it,” asked Nora curiously.

Oliver choked a laugh and starched the side of his head awkwardly.

“That is ... not true.”

“That is  _ totally _ true.” Felicity came into view.

“Chloe, Nora is here,” Oliver called into the house.

Nora stepped inside and it took a few minutes but soon Chole appeared in the entryway of Queen manor. 

“I'm so glad to see you! This weekend is going to be great.” she hugged Nora who responded back with a hug.

“I was just about to talk to my dad about … the thing.” 

“What thing?” 

“Well,” Nora began, playing with her fingers. “Dante and I were talking about how prom is kind of this milestone and none of us are in relationships --mainly because teenage boys are gross-- so we were just going to go as a group with our friends … I got a visitor pass for Chloe.” 

“Let me tell you girls, grown men aren't any better,” said Felicity.

“Who's going?” Oliver questioned, going into business mode. 

“It would me, Dante, our friend Satcher, and maybe James. I have no idea about James though because he won't reply to my texts.” Nora explained. 

“Alone?”

“We were just going to hang out at the school, then walk to get dinner.” she shrugged. 

“I'll think about it. Do you guys want pizza for dinner?”

The girls agreed and headed up to Chloe’s room.

 

**Earth Thirty-Eight**

 

In the Danves’ house on Friday, James rushed down the stairs, a backpack slung over his shoulder. He slid into a chair at the breakfast table where his grandmother, Eliza sat.

“Woah, slow down there, kiddo. Where's the fire?” she asked with a crinkly-eyed smile. 

“ACT testing is today,” he spoke excitedly, ploughing through his plate of pancakes.

“You were out late last night. Where were you?” Alex came into view, and her tone was serious. “I know you're a teenager and you want to go out, but I would like to be in the loop, okay?” 

“I was with Mr Olsen,” James spoke quickly, almost without even thinking. He knew Mr Olsen would back him up. “I was talking to him about an internship at CatCo and we kind of got caught up watching the game.”

“Okay.” Alex smiled and kissed his cheek. “I have to get to work and you have to get to school.”   
  


“James,” said Alex, coming into CatCo. She and Kara were getting lunch that afternoon so she decided to stop in and have a chat with James Olsen. “Can we talk for a minute?” she asked. 

“Yeah-- yeah sure…”  he set down the phone he was about to use and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“Was James with you last night?”

“James? He was with me, yes.” he nodded once. “We uh, watched the game.” he pulled at his collar slightly, hoping that was the right answer. “I should have made him call you, that was my mistake.” 

“Thank you. I know teenagers lie, so I just wanted to make sure.”

When she left James Olsen shot James Danvers a text. 

**Mr Olsen:** _ I covered for you with your mother. Next time you should be honest with her about wherever it is you were. _

James was walking from lunch to P.E. when he got the text.

**James:** _ Sorry, I was with a girl and it's weird to talk about that stuff with your mom. You know? _

**Mr Olsen:** _ Okay, well … be responsible. _

**Earth One**

The sun was starting to go down in Star City and Chloe flung herself onto her bed, her small frame barely making a dip in the bed. She was about an inch or shorter than Nora with a thin frame.

“We should call James while it's still light out in National City,” she informed Nora.

“Right.” They rushed down to the Arrow cave where Felicity sat at one of the computers.

“Hey, mom. Can we call James?”

“Your James or Guardian?” 

“Our James, mom. Why would we need Mr Olsen?” Chloe raised her eyebrows. 

“Right, that was a stupid question.” she pushed a couple buttons on the computer and a call began to ring out.

After a few seconds, James’s smiling face appeared on the screen. 

“Hey!”

“Listen, do you want to come to a great party on Earth One?” asked Chloe.

“We’re all going to prom as a group and you're officially invited.” Nora pushed herself into the frame. 

“Mom, can I go to Team Flash’s prom?” he called through the house. However, he almost immediately regretted that decision because what he got in response was a series of questions in a very mom-like fashion. 

_ Who's going? What time? How much is the ticket? Will you be alone? Is it in Central City or Star City? Are you staying the night? You're not getting a hotel, are you? _

James dropped his head into his hands and just waited for her to finish her series of questions before replying. 

“I found out about it three minutes ago,” he called back, laughing a little. He was called away from the screen then, only to return a few minutes later. “My mom said she needs more information.” 

“I'll figure that out and send Barry over to talk to your mom about it.” Felicity chimed in. 

“Thanks, Mrs Queen!”

“Call me Felicity, Mrs Queen makes me feel old.” she insisted. 

When they got off the call Nora headed over to one of the mats.

“Hey, Chloe, wanna spar?” Nora offered. 

“Um, hell yes. Ready to get your ass kicked?” 

“No drawing blood,” Felicity cautioned. “Barry will go off the wall if I send his daughter back to him with half-healed wounds.” Felicity sighed. 

“Fire and Arrow at me!” said Nora with a grin.

“No, no arrows. That's not allowed. I said no drawing blood!” Felicity made a motion with her arms to pair with her words. “Nope.”

“I have my speed now. Chloe couldn't hurt me even if she wanted to.” Nora was grinning and Felicity saw the shadow of Barry in it.

“Have you not heard the Prism story?”

“Why do I have a feeling that's when uncle Oliver shot my dad in the back with arrows?” Nora guessed, dodging a hit from Chloe.

“How did you know?”

“Every single team up story I've heard about my dad and Oliver is timed by whether it was before or after Oliver shot him in the back with arrows.” Nora laughed an landed double punches to Chloe’s lower back from behind.

“ _ Of course _ it is.”

“Is dad suiting up tonight?” Chloe popped up, blocking a punch from Nora with her firearm before responding with one of her own, which just clipped her shoulder.

“Yes, so we get to be Overwatch tonight.” Felicity stood and cracked her knuckles. “It’s just casual stuff though, no big bad has reared their ugly head yet.”

“Sweet, I'll make popcorn in a bit.” Chloe landed a hard punch to Nora’s jaw, making her wince. “Sorry!’

“I can take it.” Nora laughed and hit her in the shoulder.

“You're both nuts.”

“I'm joining Team Flash next year when my dad can't stop me.” Nora tried to kick Chloe’s legs out from under her--

Chloe dodged her and brought Nora to the ground.

“Dad won't let me join team Arrow at all.”

“That's my girl,” said Oliver proudly, coming into view. He pulled Nora up by her arm. “You alright?” he checked.

“Yep! Nothing I can't handle,” Nora beamed proudly.

* * *

Dante was hunched over the paperwork He’d received from Mrs Danvers. He was about halfway done when his phone dinged. He sighed and set down his pen, grabbing his phone and glancing at it. He smiled when he saw the caller ID.

**Satcher:** _ Hey, _

**Dante:** _ Hey :)  _

**Satcher:** _ I know it's like eleven but can u drop by? _

Dante frowned deeply at the message and replied. 

**Dante:** _ Absolutely. I'll be there in ten. _

Dante headed downstairs and was surprised to see his dad working on something at the coffee table.

“Papá? I have to go out, it's kind of important … I don't know if I'll be back by curfew.” he admitted.

“Where are you going, kiddo?” he set down what he was working on; a pair of Vibe goggles.

“Can this just be one of those things we talked about? No questions?” remembering his father once telling him that it's okay if he wants some things to be private, he decided to use it again.

“Just promise me you'll make good choices,” said Cisco, vibing the car keys into Dante’s hand.

“I promise.” he nodded before he headed out.

 

Dante finally pulled up to Satcher’s house and let himself into the front door which opened into the living room where Satcher was, curled up in a tight ball on the sofa. He made his way to the sofa and sat beside him, one hand gently resting on his shoulder.

“I'm sorry I asked you to come. That was selfish. I'm sorry.” Satcher’s breathing was laboured and Dante could tell it was one of  _ those _ nights.

Satcher had bad nights sometimes, where the weight of everything consumed him and he couldn't fight his negative thoughts anymore; When the world and his own mind was far too heavy.

“That's not true.”

“Yes, it is, what the Fuck is wrong with me? I can’t, Dante.”

“It's okay.” Dante’s hand slowly moved up and down his arm. “That's not true. I love you and I'm not going anywhere.”

“I can’t.”

“Satch,” Dante said firmly. 

This wasn't the first night they'd had like this. This was a regular occurrence. Sometimes more often than others. Satcher would reach out, and Dante would come over. They would sit like this, and ride out the episode together, and then the next day Satcher would act like nothing had happened, which Dante had always assumed was because he was embarrassed. He was the only one who saw this side of Satcher. Everyone else saw the smiling, nice baseball player.

“I'm don't want to feel like this anymore. I can’t. Everything hurts.”

“Do you want me to call Caitlin?” he asked, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“No. It's not like that … my entire chest feels like it's been carved out.” he said quietly, tears staining the sofa cushions. “I want to fucking die.” 

Dante froze.

“Satcher. No. We’ll ride this out together.” 

“Why don't you just give up on me?” 

“Because you're my best friend, and I love you. That's why.”

“Why? I'm not a good person.” 

Dante spent a good portion of the night arguing with his friend's demons, but he didn't stop. He denied everything he tried to throw out and sat with him. If he was being honest, he had no idea what he was really doing. It was about three am when Satcher exhausted himself to the point that he fell asleep. Dante stayed with him, falling asleep sitting up on the sofa as well.

When Dante returned home around eleven the next day, Earning himself a frantic glance from Caitlin who was in the kitchen.

“Where were you? When did you leave?” she crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

“I had something to take care of, its fine.”

“You know you can always talk to me,” Caitlin frowned, and folded her hands together.

“I know. I'm going to take a nap,” he headed up the stairs.

* * *

Dante came into work the following Saturday and immediately found his manager. 

“Hey, Shelby. Are there any hours I could pick up?” 

“You're working the number of hours I can legally give you as a minor,” she replied.

“Thanks for the heads up.” 

“No problem.” 

 

After work Dante headed over to the West-Allen’s,  Barry was sitting on the sofa, reading over a few files when Nora tapped into the speed force to get the door. 

“Hey, Dante!” she smiled. “I was just about to feed my tarantula, wanna watch?”

“Sure.” he headed upstairs with her, calling a quick greeting to Mr Allen. When they reached her room Nora pulled a large cockroach from a container and Dante picked up another that was in the same jar, watching it climb across his hands.

“So, spiders are a no but cockroaches are fine?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“I don't know ... I just don't like spiders.” he laughed. 

“Hey, want to go by your place later? I'm filling out my college applications and I don't want to be shut up in my room for three hours.”

“Sure. I have some to fill out as well, but I promised to help Kye with his Homework and fix Caitlin’s computer.” Dante’s computer skills weren't anywhere near on par with Felicity Smoak, or even his father's, but he could replace a broken cooling fan.

Nora dropped the roach in front of the tarantula in the enclosure on her desk and the creature eventually grasped it and began to eat.

“Dante … are you stretching yourself too thin?”

“How so?” 

“When you're not studying and keeping ridiculous work hours you're disappearing for hours at a time or helping me with the twins, or something else. It's always  _ something _ .” she began to go on a very Barry-esque rant about over-exhaustion. 

He cut her off.

“Nora, Nora,” he laughed, finding it kind of adorable. “I'm really fine. Nothing to worry about here.”

“Really?” she pressed. “I'm worried.”

“I am fine. let's go get some college applications done!” he smiled and carried her bag for her.

At the Ramon house they went straight up to Kye’s room.

“Hey, Kye, I can help you with your science homework before Nora and I get some stuff done.” 

Kye sat at his desk, hunched over with a pencil. 

“What are you working on?"

“It's not done you can't see.” Kye stuck his tongue out at his cousin I a childish manner and put whatever the drawing was away.

When Kye was finished with his Homework Nora and Dante headed into Dante’s room and pulled out their stuff. They laid on their stomachs on the bed and started to fill out their paperwork.

“Do you think they'll give a damn if I just put Dante Ramon? Dante Ramon II sounds pretensions as fuck.” he laughed a little.

“My dad said I should go ahead and put the second,” Nora shrugged. “Just to be safe.”

“Ugh, fine … date of birth … July 3rd 2020 … Race slash ethnicity … yes, I have one, thank you, I'm actually overqualified in that area.” 

“ _ Same _ . I'm just gonna put down black though.”

“Neato. I'm putting Latino.” 

“If you  _ ever  _ say Neato again I'm disowning you.” 

“Neato,” he drew out the word obnoxiously.

With a single, firm shove, Nora rolled Dante off the bed. He fell to the floor with a loud  _ thud _ . 

“Go to hell, West-Allen” he laughed. 

“Oh, darling, where do you think I came from?” she did a barrel roll to keep him from reclaiming his spot on the bed.

Dante threw his hand out in front of him. 

“I'll vibe you to Canada.” he threatened teasingly.

“Oh, neat, do you think I could run up Niagara Falls?” Nora mused and filled out the rest of her application.

“Can I have my bed back, now?”

“Nope.” she popped the ‘p’ and started on another application. 

“Fine,” he reached up and grabbed his applications. Then rolled over onto his stomach to start another application. “Oh, this one says check all that apply. I can put Latino  _ and _ Chinese.”

“Sweet!” Nora rolled off the bed, popping herself on the floor next to him. “What school is this that actually recognises that this isn't 1940?”

“Nowhere special,” he shrugged, finishing it up and moving to the next one.

“Okay, why is your pile of applications so huge?” she raised her eyebrows. “I’m only applying to Central City University and the community college.”

“I just like to be prepared.” he shrugged his shoulders. 

“Prepared for  _ what _ ?”

“Listen, my grandmother sent my dad and me home with leftovers from family dinner the other night. How about I go get it? I know you love her cooking.” he offered with a smile. 

“Sure.” Nora’s mouth formed a hard line, twitching ever so slightly.

If Dante had been paying attention, he definitely would have recognised that as her lying face. Unfortunately for him, he was more focused on getting out the conversation. 

“I have to pee,” announced Nora, slipping out of the room. 

Dante headed down to the kitchen and went into the fridge. He opened it and shuffled around until he found the Tupperware he was looking for. He plopped its contents onto a paper plate and put it in to nuke. 

“You hate that.” Caitlin accused, around a mouthful of carrot.

He jumped, having not seen her at the island when he entered.

“It’s for Nora,” he replied, tapping his finger on the counter and waiting for the food to heat up.

“Dante, you can't have the door closed if there is going to be girls here.”

“Um … since when is that a rule?” 

“It's always been a rule, it's extremely inappropriate and you should know better.” she gave him a look that was usually reserved for Barry or his father when they did something stupid. 

“What are you talking about?” he stared at her, honestly unable to recall a time where she had treated him like this-- like he was a child, probably when he was a child.

“Dante. It's highly inappropriate for you to have a girl in your room alone with the door closed. Keep it open. This isn't a discussion.”

The microwave dinged and Dante pulled out the plate before turning to face Caitlin again.

“What exactly do you think I'm going to be doing?” his tone was growing more agitated.

“I was a teenager once, I know what teenagers do.”

“Fuck off, Oh my god.” he snapped. 

“Dante. What is going on with you?” 

“What's going on with me is you're  _ not  _ my mother so leave me alone!”

Dante made his way back up the stairs and headed into his room with the plate. When he returned he saw Nora seated on the floor, paging through several of his applications. 

“Nora, that's my private stuff,” he said seriously. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to be a doctor?” She looked up at him with a smile. “Honestly, you would be so good at it. You care about people.” but then she frowned. “You've been trying to tell me this for a while, haven't you?” 

“Don't tell my dad.” was all he said in return. What else  _ could _ he say? She held the evidence in her hands.

“All this time I assumed you were weird about joining the team because you didn't have your powers yet. How long have you wanted to be a doctor?” 

“Since I was like, eleven or so.”

“Dante, I'm really sorry.”

“You don't have anything to be sorry for,” Dante looked at her and his brow furrowed.

“I didn’t listen to you. We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember and I never listened to you. I had no idea what you wanted to do with your life, for years.” 

Dante just shrugged his shoulders. 

“I didn't really make an effort to tell you, either.” 

“Why not?”

“Because you always got so excited talking about Team Flash.” he shrugged his shoulders and land against the door. 

Nora’s phone dinged and she sighed heavily, annoyed by the interruption. 

“It's my dad. He wants me home, I'll call you,” Nora closed the space between them and hugged him tightly. “You should try talking to me sometimes, I know it's hard to get a word in edgewise when I get going but really. If you want to talk I will listen, Dante.” there was a rush of purple and red and she was gone. 

Dante sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

  
  


**Earth Thirty-Eight**

 

“Why do you look so stressed, Winn?” asked Kara when she entered the D.E.O.

Winn was in his lab, frantically scrambling through the containers. He jumped up at the sound of her voice. 

“W-what do you mean? I'm fine.” he opened another drawer and started to shift things around in it.

“Winn.” she raised her eyebrows at him. 

“I may have … lost a very important prototype suit.”

“Which one?” asked Kara, moving to help him look. 

“Well, it's very similar to Barry’s suit … flame and friction proof, except it's bulletproof too. It’s not out of its testing phase yet so I wasn't letting any of the agents try it out, if it has a weakness I haven't addressed it yet.” 

“I'm sure we’ll find it. It's not like someone stole it out of your lab.” Kara rolled her eyes at Winn. “Could you calm down?”

“Kara, this suit can withstand laser vision,” he informed her. “I designed the material for  _ you _ .”

“You should have lead with that, we have to find it.”

* * *

“We have another attack on the Alien settlement downtown,” announced Alex coming into view. “A serial arson is burning down the homes there. Three aliens died, one was a child, about seven. We need agents down there.”

“We’ll send a few agents over.” one of the agents replied.

 

At National City North high school, James caught up with his friend in the hall, falling into step beside the dark blue girl. 

“Hey, Zerka,” he flashed her a bright grin. “did you get my text message last night?”

“I didn't. I'm sorry cellphones are still a pretty foreign concept to me, was it important?” she pulled out her phone and turned it on, moving the screen around without actually  _ doing _ anything.

“Nah, not really. Here, this one--” he pressed pointed to an app that was shaped like an envelope. “-- I'm just having a bunch of friends over for movie night tonight and wanted to see if you would be up for it. We’re watching Camille Markle’s Really Bad Great First Date.” 

“Sounds fun, I don't know that one. What time should I be there? I'll cook something from my planet.” 

“Don't put yourself out, but that would be cool! I don't know a lot about the Lesta galaxy, so it would be cool to eat something from there.” he smiled. 

“How do you spell ‘movie’?” 

He spelt it out loud to her as they walked to the lunch room.

“We were going to start around six or so. If you need a ride I can come get you.”

“I think I'll walk. I love walking around the city.” 

“I'll come walk with you then. You can't walk all the way to my house alone at night. It’s not safe.”

“Why isn't it safe?” 

“Haven't you seen the news? All sorts of bad stuff going on in the city and I live in one of the close suburbs.”

“Oh, okay. How many parents do you have?” she asked. 

“I just have a mom, my grandma lives with us but I've got a  _ big _ extended family.” he laughed. “like there are  _ so _ many of us.” he made a sweeping gesture with his hand. 

“Wow! I have a big family too. On my planet, we have mostly multiple births. Not seeing many ...  _ twins  _ … I think? is weird for me!” she shuffled around in her pockets until she found a photo. “This is me and my twin brother Zerko! He’s back home with mom and some of my other siblings. He’ll be here in a month or two.”

“Yeah, ‘twins’ is two, ‘triplets’ for three.-- Oh, that's great! You must miss him a lot.”

“I do,” she smiled. “but I've made some great new friends here, like you.” she nudged his arm.

They made their way to the lunch room and her phone dinged, she pulled it out and got to the messaging app again. 

“What's the verdict?” 

“ _ Verdict _ ?” she repeated, visibly confused.

“Sorry, is your dad okay with you coming by for the movie?” 

“Oh!” she looked at the text. “He wants to meet you first,” she explained as they got in line.

“That's fine.” 

They got their lunch and took a seat with James’ friends. Kelly sat to his left, Zerka to his right and across from them was Sean and Miles. Miles spoke first. 

“So, James I think if we have time we should watch the new Slingshot movie! I bought it last night on my tablet and I can link it to the T.V.” he took a bite of his pizza.

“Sure, that could be fun! I've been looking forward to it,” replied James. 

“YOU GOT THE NEW SLINGSHOT MOVIE?” Kelly nearly jumped out of her skin.

“I got it for you, babe.” Sean grinned.

Kelly pressed her lips to his and hugged his side.

Zerka felt a heat in her cheeks as she glanced pointedly away from the couple.

* * *

Later, when they made their way to their lockers.

“I want to ask you a question,” said Zerka, now sporting a humanoid appearance. “It's about earth, but I don't want to be rude.”

"You can ask me anything about earth, however, I honestly might not know the answer.”

“Aren't Kelly and Sean a little young to be ... married?”

“Married?” his eyebrows pulled together. “They're not married they're just dating.”

“ _Dating_?” 

“Here people usually date before they get married. How did your parents meet?” he figured that would be the best way to ask.

“When we turn twenty-four, we attend an event in the spring. It's like a big party and you meet with people and decide who you want to marry if you haven't already chosen one of your friends,” she explained, smiling a little. 

“Oh, well here people wait a while before we get married. They sort of pick someone and act like they're married. It's still a valid commitment, of course! It's just kind of different, and these days it's not strange at all for adults to live together and have kids without getting married. Some people also just date casually, uh-- hmm.” he scratched the back of his head as he thought and began trying to explain how there were also different levels of dating for some people.

“So, what's dating like?”

“Well, the movie we’re watching today is a comedy about things that go wrong on a first date, so that's good.”

“Could we go on a date?”

“Um.” James started awkwardly.

“I'm sorry, I made you uncomfortable.” she frowned. 

“No, not at all! I’m just kind of seeing someone right now,” he explained. “I'm sorry.” 

“Is it a serious commitment?”

“Kind of. In the middle.” he laughed. 

“Oh! Okay.” she smiled. “Sorry.”

“It's alright,” he clapped her on the back lightly. “So, I’ll come get you tonight.”

* * *

“Hey mom, do you have that translator thing? I'm meeting Zerka’s dad tonight and I don't know how much English he speaks.”

“Here you go” she grabbed one off the table and handed it over to him. “be responsible though.” 

“Is everything okay here? Everyone seems kind of tense.”

“Someone stole one of Winn’s experiments … but we’ll figure it out soon.” she seemed a bit distracted that day though. 

“That sucks, well, I need to go.” he headed out. 

When he went to get Zerka he knocked on the door and waited for her. He set up his tech while he waited. 

“Hey!” Zerka appeared at the door. “Come in,” she stepped aside and he entered the house, stuffing his hands into his pockets after switching on the tech. 

“ _ Hey, do I sound okay? _ ”

“ _ Wow! How are you doing that? _ ”

“ _ I borrowed a translator from my mom. I didn't know if your dad knew English. _ ” he smiled and hoped everything was translating correctly. 

“ _ Some of your verb tenses are off but I can understand you perfectly _ .” she smiled and called to her father. 

A tall blue man with purple markings on his arms appeared. 

“ _ Hello, Mr. Jael. I'm James Danvers, Zerka and I wanted to see a movie with my friends. _ ”

“ _ Will there be other adults? _ ”

“ _ Yes, sir. My grandmother will be there the whole night and my mother should be home about halfway through the movie _ .”

“ _ Zerka, have fun. _ ” 

“That was easier than I expected,” James told Zerka in English.

“I think he just wanted to talk to you about it face to face. We don't really like other modes of communication. We don't even really use letters on our planet.” 

“That makes sense.” James nodded. “I love hearing about your planet. What's the climate like?”

“Oh, it's beautiful! It's almost eighty per cent forest. Everything is a rich green … but I like the National City. There are so many people to see and things to do,” her eyes lit up, talking about the city.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just a few quick things. I binge read Aquaman's wiki and I'm now in love with him (oops?). I figured Arthur is kind of an older name, I personally don't know anyone named Arthur who goes by their full name. (I went to school with one, everyone called him Art.) + because he's younger than most of the other heroes I'm having them call him Artie, also to keep things kinda modern-ish his son is called A.J. but he is Aquaman's first son.

Barry headed into the house, talking on his cell phone. “Yes, absolutely. I'll ask her and let you know … it's great talking to you too, bye Artie.” Barry hung up the phone and entering the living room.

“Nora?” he started when he saw her on the sofa with her science book.

“Yeah, dad?”

“Mr. Curry just called. He’d like to know if you would be up for babysitting A.J. this weekend. He heard you and Dante are great with super-kids.” he laughed.

“I can do it myself. I don't want to drag Dante into it,” she smiled. “I miss little A.J. how old is he now, three?”

“Is everything alright between you two? I know things might be awkward after you turned him down but it will get easier soon.”

“What?” Nora raised her eyebrows.

“What? We're talking about the prom thing right?” Barry crossed his arms, not sure where the conversation was going at this point.

“What prom thing?” Nora turned to face her dad, confusion clear in her tone.

“He asked you to prom. You and I discussed this.”

“I didn't turn him down, he wanted us to go together so we’re all going together.”

“He asked me for permission to ask _you_ to prom.” Barry blinked.

“Oh my gosh, I’m dumb,” she sighed. “When he said _we_ I assumed he meant me, Chloe and all of us.”

“You're not dumb,” he laughed. “why don't you want Dante to help?”

Nora’s mouth formed a hard line as she tried to think up an excuse. “It’s nothing, daddy. Don't worry about it.”

“You're a worse liar than me, what happened?” he stopped to take a seat beside her on the sofa.

“Dante has been … acting really strange.” Nora admitted, recalling the incident a few days ago, and how exhausted he’s been. “I don't want him to get in trouble because something's wrong and I don't want him to be punished.”

“You have to give me more than that,” Barry put an arm around her.

“Well, for starters he is working a lot of hours. His boss said that legally she can't give him any more, so he started doing other jobs where he gets paid under the table. Also, he hasn't even told his dad he's going to medical school, he even hid that from _me_ ,” she sighed. “I think he's really stressed, he actually shouted at Caitlin, I've never heard him do that. I was upstairs and he was properly screaming. It was really bad.”

“I'll talk to Cisco about it,” Barry squeezed her shoulder. “thank you for telling me. I'll make sure we figure out what’s wrong.”

“When does Mr. Curry need me to take A.J.?” Nora was extremely eager to change the subject.

“This coming long weekend, he said he can bring him out this way. He has some legal stuff to deal with back home and he'll be gone for a bit. You'd have him overnight and he would leave Saturday afternoon.” Barry explained, pulling out his phone when it dinged.

“I can do that, A.J. is kind of a handful but I shouldn't have any issues.”

“Great, I'll let him know--” his phone dinged. “--I have a diamond heist to deal with, but I love you and I'll tell Mr. Curry yes,” he kissed her forehead before disappearing.

* * *

When Barry arrived at the West house Friday evening he saw that there was a large turn out for family dinner.  Last week it had been a lot as well but no one from Earth Thirty-Eight had joined them. This week they had Kara, Alex and her son, James.

“We’re going to have to move to the backyard again.” Joe laughed. “Could one of the three speedsters here set up the folding table outside?”

“I got it!” Nora disappeared in a blur of purple and red, returning in seconds.

When Nora returned she disappeared into the kitchen with Dante and James Danvers, followed soon by Chloe.

“Mr. West,” said Dante. “I hope it's okay I invited Satch again, his parents are out of town.

“Plenty of room for everybody.” Joe nodded and clapped his shoulder.

About fifteen minutes later, just about everyone heard Dante scream from the kitchen.

“Spider!” he shrieked, backing up into the counter so hard that he was sure he would have a bruise in the morning.

There was the sound of a breach opening and another scream.

“I got it! --Dante stop screaming-- I got it!” Nora tried to contain her laughter. In her hands was a cup with a spider secured inside of it. “Dante, it's okay!”

However, at this point almost everyone had seen most of what happened. Dante had gotten his powers, and the first thing he did, was accidentally vibe a very large house spider into falling on his head.

“That's my boy! First vibe!” Cisco grinned and gave him a high five. “We’ll work on controlling those,” he assured him.

Dante seemed a bit embarrassed but just nodded silently.

“Thank you for having us,” said Kara when she saw Joe for the first time that night. “I brought chocolate pecan pie.”

“Friends of Team Flash are friends of mine, but keep the hero talk low. We've got a civilian joining us.”

“My lips are sealed, detective!”

“Where's Jenna?” Iris asked.

“She decided to skip out on dinner,” said Cecile, on her way out to put the salad on the table outside.

“Okay, that is _not_ allowed,” said Iris seriously. “Barry, take me to CCU.”

“Iris, she's twenty years old--”

“Barry.”

“Okay!”

In a whoosh of red, they were gone. Satcher arrived soon after that and went to help in the kitchen.

When they arrived on campus Iris made her way to her sister’s dorm and knocked on the door a few times.

“Iris?” Jenna stared at her, confused as to what her big sister was doing there.

“Hey, Squirt,” Iris said affectionately.

“I'm an adult stop calling me that,” she rolled her eyes.

“First of all, I’ve been calling you Squirt since the first time I held you, I will never stop. Second, this is the fourth family dinner that you've missed and it's not fair to dad. He misses you.”

“I'm kind of on a date with my girlfriend.”

“Bring her,” Barry joined the convo then.

“I'm pretty sure my girlfriend doesn't want to meet my entire extended family at once--”

“I don't mind, Lady-Bug. Don't miss out on family dinner over me.” A girl came into view and an amused smile crept across Barry’s face when he saw the woman in question. _Night Girl. How ironic_. Barry thought, he tried to compose himself.

The girl gasped when she saw Barry.

“What?” Jenna raised her eyebrows at her girlfriend.

“I didn't know your brother was _Barry Allen_!” she touched Jenna’s arm. “Why didn't you tell me?”

Barry offered a hand, “It's great to meet you.” but he already knew who she was.

“I’m Lydda.” she shook his hand.

“Why do you care?”

“Because he's my competition for lead CSI at CCPD.”

“Yeah, so, are we all ready to go?” Asked Iris.

“Fine, I'll drive.” Jenna sighed, giving in. She turned around and headed into the dorm to get her keys and a hoodie.

“What was that?” Iris asked Barry when their little sister was out of view.

Barry looked between Lydda and Iris for a few seconds.

“Dah … um … well.” he started, scratching his head, honestly unsure of how to proceed.

“Barry and I know each other from our night job.” said Lydda then added quietly, “Don't say anything to Jenna yet, please. She doesn't know.”

“You're--” Iris covered her mouth and chuckled a little. “Good luck, sweetheart.” it was no secret in the West family that Jenna found the whole superhero thing more than a little annoying.

Back at the West house dinner was pretty much ready thanks to all the extra hands. The teenagers sat towards one end of the table. Soon Satch arrived and joined them. Chloe and Nora were discussing their college plans when Artie arrived, the young toddler on his hip.

“So sorry I'm late!” he smiled and made his way over to the table, setting A.J. in Jenna’s old highchair. “I had a such a hard time getting this one down for his nap today, I had to lay down in the crib with him.” he laughed.

“Oh no,” Alex laughed. “you might be A.J.’s thing.”

“His _thing_?”

“Every kid has a thing. James was a kid the only thing that would put him to sleep would be those Baby Einstein DVDs that Iris and Barry gifted us.” Alex laughed a little.

“Until Nora was about four, she refused to sleep unless I held her against my chest so she could listen to the Speed Force.” Barry smiled.

“ _Dad_!” Nora objected, embarrassed.

Barry leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to her temple.

“It's because I love you.”

“What was my thing?” asked Ester, pulling her hair back into a tie. She sat towards the front of the table with Kara.

“Your thing was you had to sleep between your mother and I or you didn't sleep at all.” he smiled at her.

“Chloe’s thing--” Felicity started but was cut off.

“Mom, do _not_ ,” Chloe warned, giving her mother an intense look.

“William had to read her a story. Every night. She cried so hard when he moved out-”

“ _M_ _om_!”

“I remember that,” said William who was passing by with Oliver. He reached out and ruffled up Chloe’s hair. “I'm pretty sure you made dad jealous of how much attention you demanded from me.”

“I don't get jealous.” Oliver defended, crossing his arms.

“Oliver you were totally jealous. You even resorted to bribes, you gave her chocolate after seven.” Felicity argued.

“Your brother is _hot_ ,” said Nora, in a voice she thought was quiet to Chloe.

Barry looked as if he may have a stroke.

“Gross.” Chloe and William said in unison, Chloe made a face.

“That nerd?” Chloe added.

“Calm down, babe,” Iris rolled her eyes and patted Barry’s chest affectionately. Then she turned to Oliver “Ollie, if your kid looks at my baby girl I'm beating him up.”

“I'm just standing here!” William put his hands up defensively.

“I'm so glad I didn't have a weird thing,” Dante announced, changing the subject.

“No, no, you had a thing.” his aunt, Caitlin, shook her head, smiling to herself as she set her wine glass back down on the table.

“I wish I'd never spoken.” Dante dropped his face into his hands.

“Please be worse than mine,” Chloe begged quietly.

“Dante refused to go to sleep unless Cisco held him and told him at least three Superhero stories. Then when he was four and I had Kyle, he _had_ to say goodnight to him. Or he wouldn't go to sleep, this went on until he was about six or so.” She smiled.

“Wow, so there was a time when you loved me,” said Kyle from beside her in a tone that mimicked shock.

“I always loved you, Kye.” Dante laughed. “I just hated you until you until you learned to stop touching my stuff.”

When the evening was nearing its end, Arthur got up and went to speak to Nora.

“Nora, are you sure you're up for taking him?” Arthur double checked. He was significantly younger than the rest of the Heroes at twenty-five, and a first-time patent. Everyone called him Artie,

“Absolutely! I'm always up for the challenge.” she was already making faces at the little boy in the high chair beside Arthur.

“Thank you so much. It means a lot to me.”

“What's family for?” she replied with a big smile.

 

“May I?” asked James after the dinner plates were cleared, he had his arms partially outstretched towards A.J.

“Of course!” Artie smiled.

James picked up the boy and held him on his side.

“Hey, little man. Do you remember me? It's been a while.”

“James!” he grinned and held onto the teen’s shirt.

“You are getting so big!” he smiled.

“I'm Twree!” A.J. announced proudly.

“Wow! That is _so_ big.”

“Thank you so much for having me, Mr. West but it's about time I get going,” he announced and went around to say goodbye to his hero friends.

When the Danvers were getting ready to leave they found James on his stomach on the living room floor, a box of crayons tipped out between himself and A.J.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the boy's picture.

“It's a _big_ fishy!” he giggled.

“James, it's time to go.” Alex came into view.

Nora appeared then,

“Actually, Ms. Danvers … if it's okay can James stay a little and help me put A.J. to bed? I promise to send him back right after with the breach device!” Nora grinned and wrung her hands together.

Alex raised an eyebrow then turned back to the group. “Barry, is it okay if James stays with Nora and A.J. for a bit?” she asked.

“Absolutely! More than welcome.” Barry gave a thumbs up.

“Then, that's fine, but don't stay out too late. Love you, honey.”

 

Dante, who had been standing on the stairs, felt an unfamiliar feeling rising up in his stomach. Why was he frustrated that Nora wanted to watch A.J. with James? He shook his head to clear his thought process and felt a hand on his arm.

“Dante, if you keep staring at her like that she will eventually notice.” Satch laughed, linking his arm with Dante’s.

“What?”

“I came down to check on you when I saw your girl all over James.”

“Don't say stuff like that.”

“Okay. Want to go up to Cray-Z Scoops? Employee discount yo.”

“Yeah, let's go.”

* * *

When Nora and James got back to the West-Allen house with the rest of the family, the two teens headed up to the bathroom. James set the child’s large overnight bag on the floor and Nora unzipped it, starting to reach around inside until she found what she was looking for: an orange and green onesie, made of a fabric that looked unlike anything James had ever seen before.

“Come on, buddy,” said Nora. “Time to soak!” she helped the toddler change into the suit, it took several minutes to get both of his little arms into the sleeves. James had already started to fill the tub with cool water at Nora’s insistence.

“So, why were you so insistent I come? Don't get me wrong. I like kids, you know me, but doesn't Dante usually babysit with you?” he pointed out. “wait, you said _soak_ this isn't Aquaman’s kid is it?”

Nora sighed.

“I needed your advice, and yes this is Aquaman's boy.” she lifted the boy into the tub. “There we go, buddy!” she stood, only needing to watch him a bit. Unlike other babies, she could pretty much leave him unattended for the most part. She slid out of the bathroom with James, not wanting A.J, who was in his ‘parrot’ stage to hear them.

“Shouldn't you watch him a little more closely? He's still young, he could drown.”

Nora made direct eye contact with James until he mumbled “Aquababy,” remembering the child breathed water. He had special tech he wore on dry land of course, for outings such as this.

He followed her to the guest room and she pulled out a large rubber sheet from the overnight bag.

“You needed advice on something?” James reminded her, starting to pull the pillows off of the guest bed.

“Uh,” Nora started, doing away with the comforter.

“Well?” he took one end of the sheet and she took the other.

“There's a guy who … might have feelings for me.” she started to jab her end of the sheet under the mattress.

“You mean Dante? That's not a _might_ ,” he worked around a corner.

“How do you know?”

“Because the rest of us have conversations like once a week about how Dante looks at you. I think you should go for it. I'm sure your parents will understand.” James started to put rubber pillowcase over one of the pillows.

“That’s not the advice I need,” said Nora, putting the bed back together minus the blanket. She grabbed the spray bottle and double checked a notebook she had pulled out of the bag earlier, mumbling ‘mist rubber sheets’ before starting to spray the bed down.

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t return those feelings, James.” she sighed. “Before you say anything, I don't mean like how my parents were-- I don't look at him like that. When he said _we_ should go to prom together I assumed, without a second thought that he meant all of us.”

“So Dante never wanted to take me to prom?” James asked with mock offensive. “I thought we were all going to be happy together.” that earned him a damp pillow flung in his direction.

“This isn't a joke, James. I _love_ Dante. So much, but I also love you, and Chloe, and A.J.” she sighed heavily.

James dodged the pillow before picking it up and placing it back on the bed.

“Why are you asking me? I'm not exactly an expert in the love department.”

“Well, you're the only one of us with a significant other, so.” she shrugged.

“Right …” he faltered for a moment, and Nora noticed but didn't say anything. She didn't want to ask in case they’d broken up. “Whenever he gets the courage to tell you how he feels, tell him what you told me.”

“I guess you're right.”

They returned to the bathroom and A.J. splashed in the tub and giggled.

“Nora! Look what I made!” he pointed to a small shark in the tuh with him.

Nora laughed and lifted him out of the tub and set him onto a towel on the floor.

“That's a shark!” said James, shoving himself between the other two and the tub.

“It's just a little one,” Nora waved her hand dismissively.

 

Downtown, Dante and Satch stood out on the street. They leaned against the window of the ice cream shop, ice cream cones in hand. Chocolate brownie bit and vanilla.

“Satch, do you think we could talk about your stuff?” asked Dante. “I'm always here for you, and I love you man, you know that … but this isn't just a low point. It feels like we’ve both been fighting your demons since we were thirteen. I think this is bigger than us.”

“I'm sorry. I don't want to tell anyone else. The last person I talked to made me feel like a freak.” he glanced down at the sidewalk.

“Caitlin would never make you feel like a freak.”

“I think you need to talk to Nora about your feelings,” he dodged the topic. Talking about his issues was incredibly draining.

“Don't change the subject.” Dante sighed and crossed his legs.

“Is your dad going to be wondering where you are?”

“Probably not.” Dante laughed.

* * *

The following morning Iris appeared in the Cortex.

“Just the woman I wanted to see!” Barry grinned and pulled his wife into his arms, kissing her seriously.

“What was that for?” she laughed, taken by surprise. She returned the kiss, playing with his hair gently.

“Thanks to you and your amazing reporting skills, I successfully foiled Dr. Gravity’s attempt to level CCPD.” he kissed her again and her foot popped.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“You're the one who left this file talking about how the CCPD was covering up stolen blueprints, right?”

“No, that wasn't me.”

He kissed her a third time.

“What was that? I just said it wasn't me.”

“That was just because I was _very_ happy to see you.” he grinned.

 

In the speed lab, Dante opened another breach, but it was tiny. He stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow.

“You're doing great Dante, are the goggles and the gloves helping?”

“Yeah. It's still really hard though.” he winced and lowered his arm.

“How about we take a break?”

“I'm going to try one more time.” Dante decided and he tried to force a breech open. He wanted to learn how to control his powers, he knew ignoring them would just make him unstable.

Suddenly there was a rumbling and a large breached opened up beneath Dante and he was swallowed up into it.

“Dante!” Cisco yelled.

Barry appeared in the speed lab in an instant.

“What's going on?”

“Dante is gone,” said Cisco frantically as he tried to figure out what to do.

“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Barry demanded.

“He opened a breach and fell down the breach and I have no idea where it was supposed to lead!” Cisco ran his hands into his hair and paced. “This has never happened before what do I do? What the hell do I do? My son could be anywhere in the entire Multi-Verse!”

“We’ll find him. It'll be okay. We just have to think. Can you vibe him?” Barry asked.

“I have to go home and get something of hi--” Barry disappeared and reappeared with a shirt he got off Dante’s floor. “--s … that works.” he took the shirt and made an attempt to vibe. He got multiple flashes of different places that he couldn't place. “I don't understand what's happening … It's like he's just falling through the multiverse. I can't find him, Barry he's lost.”

“He's not lost, Cisco. Remember when Cynthia’s dad retired? Vibes take a lot of energy. He’ll get tired, stop vibing and then we’ll find him and bring him home.”

“This is my fault. I pushed him too hard.” Cisco’s hands were trembling violently and his eyes were watering. “I lost my son.”

 

**24 Hours Missing**

“Dad, have you heard from Mr. Ramon? He and Dante aren't answering their phones,” she asked as she came into the living room.

“They went ... out of town.”

“No one told me they went out of town.” she crossed her arms

“Okay. I'm bad at lying … sit down.”

Nora stayed put, crossing her arms. “What happened?”

“There was an accident while Dante was training, and he vibed himself through the multiverse … but we’re going to find him. I promise we are exhausting all of our resources.”

“Oh my god.” she wrapped her arms around herself. “What can I do?”

“There is nothing for you to do. The adults are handling this,” he tried to assure her but she shook her head.

“Dad, I'm a big girl and that is my best friend!”

“I know sweetie … look, there's a chance he might vibe himself to you at some point so maybe you can help by hanging around the Lab?”

“Okay,” she said quietly.

“We’re not telling the others yet, so keep it quiet, okay? But I promise we’re going to fix this.”

 

**Earth Thirty-Eight**

 

James was heading home from school, Zerka beside him as they walked back to her townhouse. “Do you need any help with your science paper?”

“Yeah, actually. If you wouldn't mind editing it for me I would appreciate it. Conversational English is one thing, but science is a whole other … ball game?”

“Yup!”

A distressed scream cut through the air and James took off running in the scream.

“Why are you running towards danger?” asked Zerka as she followed behind, easily keeping up with him.

They eventually reached Zerka’s block. People were gathered outside and smoke funneled out of the windows of one of the houses.

“That's the Lecks’s house,” she informed him.

“Do you see them?”

A woman approached.

“What's she saying?” James asked as she seemed to be frantically speaking to Zerka in a language be couldn't understand.

“She's glad I wasn't home and they can't find their son.”

“Is he inside?”

She seemed to be asking.

“He might be. The firemen won't let them back inside.”

James ducked behind the alleyway and jerked off his shirt and started to ditch his pants. Underneath his clothes, he wore an all grey suit with no fan outfits, just a hood that covered his whole face.

“What's that?” asked Zerka, appearing behind him.

“This is a secret, okay?” he pulled the cowl up over his face. “You can't tell anyone about this.”

She seemed confused but agreed and James jumped into action, climbing up on the dumpster he managed to get into a second story window. “What's the son's name?” he called down to Zerka.

“J’skar!” she called back.

James shattered the window with his fist, the suit protecting his hand and his body as he climbed inside. He couldn't see through all the smoke. He squinted his eyes. “J’skar?” he called shuffling through and dodging the flames.

Zerka went back with her neighbours and what felt like ages later, the upper window front window shattered and out came the mystery vigilante. Several teenagers on the scene began taking photos and phones and taking photo and video. When the vigilante landed they could see there was a toddler held in his arms, shielded from the glass.

The woman who had approached them before rushed to take the boy from his arms. James, the vigilante quickly disappeared into the crowd.

 

**Four Days Missing**

 

Barry was focused on equations and Cisco was spilling over tech in his lab, struggling to create something that would help him locate Dante.

“Absolutely, we’re keeping an eye out for him over here,” said Alex reassuringly. “I'll call you guys if he shows up at all.”

Cisco thanked her and hung up, dialling earth two.

“Hello?” Jesse’s face appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Jesse. Dante got his powers and he's caught in a breach loop, if he shows up there will you call us?”

“Absolutely.” she nodded and an alarm sounded. “Meta emergency, but my team and I will keep an eye out for your, I promise.”

* * *

Nora headed into S.T.A.R. Labs, resigned to spend the afternoon there.

“Just the speedster I wanted to see!” Cisco greeted her. “I have a surprise for you!” he pulled her into his lab.

 

“It's made of the same material as your dad’s suit!” Cisco said rather excitedly. “But the Comms system is in the mask and not a cowl,” he explained.

“This is amazing!” Nora did a turn in front of the mirror. “Purple was always my colour.” she was positively beaming in the new speedster suit Cisco had created for her.

“What the hell, Cisco?” came Barry’s voice from the doorway.

“What?” Cisco raised his eyebrows.

“I said _no_. I can't believe you went behind my back with this! She is too young.”

“Lighten up, Barry. You're the one who said we might need more speedsters in on the current big bad.”

“I didn't mean my seventeen-year-old daughter who has had powers less than a year!” Barry was yelling now. “I said _no_ , and you went behind my back. I've questioned your parenting decisions dozens of times, but never have I gone behind your back and blatantly disrespected you like this. I can't even believe this is a conversation we’re having.”

“You've got an issue with my parenting?”

“I have about a thousand! You let Dante go wherever he wants all the time. How do you know he's not on drugs or something? Yes, I know he leaves the house at midnight like twice a month and you don't even ask! Also, you're so ready to shove him into the front lines that you haven't even noticed that he doesn't want that!”

“I do the best I can with what was handed to me. You had _two_ years to prepare for Nora! I got a frantic four AM phone call from my girlfriend telling me she was due in seven months.”

“That is no excuse to let your kids run wild and get themselves killed! Look where that’s got him! Dante is probably dead!” Barry knew that was a low blow, especially with Nora in earshot, but he was too angry to care.

“Wow, Barry. Just. Wow. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?”

“Dad!” Nora interjected.

“Nora, get that suit off. Now. We’re going home. You're not allowed to come to S.T.A.R. Labs anymore, for anything. No more speed lab. You're not allowed by the Ramons, either.”

“Dad!” Nora protested. “You're overreacting. It's just a suit--”

“Nora Ann West-Allen. I said go home. _Now_.” Barry said seriously.

In a blink, Nora disappeared and left the suit on the table.

“You treat everything as a joke,” Barry began. “I want you to stay away from Nora.”

“ _What_? Over a suit?”

“This is about more than the suit. I trusted you around my kid and you're trying to drag her into everything I have fought to keep her safe from form seventeen years. You knew how I felt, and you went behind my back.” Barry’s hands came up and combed through his hair in a stressful gesture. “I can't believe you did this.”

“Barry, it's just a suit. You should go home and cool the fuck off.”

* * *

“Barry Allen what did you do?” Iris demanded when Barry returned home.

“Not now.”

“Yes now. Nora is bawling her eyes out, I haven't seen her this upset in years. She slammed her door in my face and told me to ask _you_ what's wrong.” she crossed her arms. “So start talking, Barry.”

“She's not allowed in the lab.”

"There's more, I know it.”

“She's also not allowed to see the Ramons.”

“What the hell happened, Barry?” she grabbed his arm when he tried to walk away.

“Cisco made her a suit, and said she should join us in the fight against Dr. Gravity,” he explained.

“Barry, she's almost an adult, she's getting to the point where she can decide if she wants--”

“No. I have spent seventeen years keeping her safe, so she doesn't have to fight with me.”

“Barry, she is _your_ daughter. You can't stop her from helping people.” Iris sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Call Cisco and apologise to him and then go talk to your daughter.”

“He went behind my back, Iris.”

“Like we all haven't done that at one point or another!” she threw her arms up in frustration.

“Except back then, it never put our children in danger,” he said seriously.

“Barry, go upstairs and fix this. You can't just tear your daughter from her best friend and her godfather over something you've always known was coming,” she pointed to the stairs.

He appeared at her door in a blink, knocking in the door a few times. Nora’s sobs could be heard through the door. He sighed and knocked again.

“Nora … honey, it's me.”

“Go away.” she snapped.

“Come on, let's talk.”

“No.”

“Nora, when you're older you'll understand why I do the things I do.” he sighed. “I love you, and everything I do, I do because I'm your father.”

The door flung open.

“No. I _am_ older, dad. I am seventeen years old. I'm applying for colleges, I'm--” she sniffed. “You and every other adult in my life are breathing down my neck about how I'm an adult and need to make adult choices, but whenever I try, you shoot me down!”

“Nora. You are too young to be on the team. You're not ready. There is still so much that you don't understand about being a speedster, there is still a lot you need to learn--”

“Did you start out knowing everything, dad?”

“No, but I was in my mid-twenties when I got these powers. I had to learn every lesson the hard way and I never want you to go through it like that. I have watched people die, three inches in front of my face, and I have had to carry with me that I wasn't fast enough to save them. This is _not_ a game, Nora.”

“I know it's not a game, but I want to help people and you're punishing me! You’re trying to take away my best friend! Who the hell does that, dad?”

“You're right. I'm sorry,” he sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. “You're not ready to join the team, but I won't try to keep you from the Ramons.” ran a hand through his hair. “If you ever have kids of your own, you'll understand why I'm saying no.”

 

**Earth Thirty-Eight Nine Days Missing**

James came downstairs for school and the news was playing on the T.V.

_Another serial arson nabbed by the mysterious new vigilante hero. No one has seen National City’s new hero yet, but we have certainly seen his actions to protect the Alien community from recent attacks. Teens online are calling him Space Dad._

“Yet another vigilante,” Alex heaved a sigh. “Hopefully they know what they're doing. There have been a few attempted Vigilantes sense Mr. Olsen came out as the guardian, a lot of kids have gotten themselves hurt and killed.”

“I hope so too,” said James, focused on his food.

“Okay well … get to school.”

* * *

_The only light in the alleyway came from the streetlights, well the ones that worked anyways, most were burnt out on this street. However, it was something that the vigilante was positively thankful for as he made his way down, taking careful consideration to not make any noise. He locked eyes on his target in the dark. A man in his thirties with a container of gasoline in his hand._

_“Stop!” he growled low, approaching the man._

_“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” he asked as the vigilante came under the streetlight. He wore a dark maroon bodysuit and helmet._

_“These people have done nothing wrong. Leave now.”_

_“We have to drive them back to their planets!”_

_The sound of a gun clicking could be heard._

_“I said, go.” the vigilante said again. “Do not make me fight you.”_

_“You're going to shoot me? Really? Going to shoot a guy holding a tank of gas?”_

_The vigilante rushed forward, and after a scuffle, the back of his gun connected with the side of the suspect’s head, effectively robbing him of his consciousness._

_“I don't have to shoot you to get the job done,_ **_jerk_ ** _.”_

 

**Earth One**

Barry entered the cortex with an intense whoosh, looking forward Cisco but it was completely empty. No Iris, no Caitlin pouring over blood samples. He headed down to Cisco’s workshop and found him working on a mask.

Cisco, who was sitting at one of the desks and adjusting the wiring on a helmet that seemed similar to his goggles.

“Yes, this is for Dante, but he has to learn to control his powers even if he's going to choose not to use them,” he fixed a wire. “I'm not going to shove my son onto the frontlines. I'm not that shitty of a father.”

Barry approached him, his hands behind his back.

“Can I sit?”

“It's _your_ lab.”

Barry took a seat next to Cisco and rested his hands against his chin as he tried to think of what to say. “You are a good dad, Cisco. You love Dante and I know you care about my girls and Kye … I just want you to slow down. Think about how I was when I first started. My daughter isn't ready for that.”

“It's thought you knew her well enough to know that you can't stop her if she wants to make a difference. We might as well back them up, or at least train them.”

“Maybe you're right, maybe I'm right. I'm not sure, that's the thing about being parents. I never should have told you I questioned your parenting but we’re worried about Dante and I think you're so focused on them joining us.

When I let them learn self-defence with Oliver’s daughter … I wasn't intending to prepare them to run off and fight crime. I wanted them to be able to protect themselves if something happened, but now I see how unrealistic that was.” he sighed and sat up straighter. “I’m sorry about what I said, and I'm sorry for how I said it, but there isn't a rulebook for parenting-- and what you and I do, this far from conventional parenting.”

“How to raise speedsters 101,” Cisco responded, a light joke to cool off the tension.

“If you find it, get me a copy.”

“You said you were worried about Dante-- why is that?”

Barry paused for a second.

“He’s been acting very … out of character,”

“I don't have all day Barry.”

“He and Nora were filling out college applications, and Caitlin told him that he needs to have the door in his room open if he was going to have a girl in his room. Things escorted and he shouted at her, pretty loudly, Nora heard it from the bathroom on the second floor.”

“That's not right. He hasn't yelled at Caitlin since he was like six.”

“Cisco, Nora wouldn't make something like that up.”

Cisco sighed and his head fell into his hand, he needed Dante home.

 

**Eleven Days Missing, Earth Thirty-Eight**

 

“Hey, mom. It was an early release day, do you need any help around here?” James appeared in the lobby of the D.E.O. on a Friday.

“Actually-- know anything about snakes?” Alex asked rather suddenly.

James raised his eyebrows at her. “Um … not a lot?” he wasn't sure why she would ask about snakes.

“We found an alien child … and she looks like a snake.” Alex explained. “I don't know about snakes though.”

“Oh, I know someone who knows about snakes,” said James “she’s also got that magic baby touch.”

“We really shouldn't bother Nora about that,” Alex began. “not with Dante still missing.”

“I know Nora, she'll be all over the distraction,” James insisted and headed over to Winn.

“Hey, Mr. Schott could you put me through to S.T.A.R. Labs?” he asked carefully. He wasn’t able to look Winn in the eye.

“Why do you look like I'm going to yell at you? Just let me finish this coding first.” he took a few minutes and then called James back over to the computer.

After a few seconds, Caitlin’s face appeared on the screen. “Hello boys!” she smiled. “What's up?”

“Could you send Nora over here as soon as possible?” James spoke first. “We need her snake knowledge and her magic baby touch.”

“I'll see … she’s not taking Dante’s disappearance well. How are you holding up, James?”

“I trust you guys over there to figure everything out,” he replied, he was mostly avoiding the situation if he was being honest.

“Okay.”

 

Nora arrived at the D.E.O. and James greeted her. “Hey! How are you doing?” he asked gently. She was closer to Dante than the rest of them were. He knew she was losing her mind over this.

“Where's the baby?” she cut right to the chase.

“Nora, thank you so much for coming. This is Liilii, that's what we’re calling her for now. I think she might be blind in one eye. It's blue and clouded.

The baby had a rather humanoid body shape but a more flat and reptilian-like face.

"She’s adorable!” Nora reached out to pick up the baby and get a closer look.

Alex hesitated but then handed the baby over to Nora, who took her easily.

“Hello,” Nora said softly and began to look the baby over.

“It looks like she's shedding, but it didn't come off right. I need a laundry basket and a syringe without a needle.”

“Do you know how I should go about drawing her blood?” Alex asked before calling Winn over. He was the only one of them who was dressed for a casual mission. “I need you to locate a laundry basket.”

“A … laundry basket?” he raised his eyebrows. “I'm a programmer, not an errand boy.”

“Please, uncle Winn?” James asked.

“Do you _really_ think that ‘please uncle Winn’ is going to work on me now that you're grown?” Winn crossed his arms.

“Please, uncle Winn?” Nora chimed in. “It's for the baby.” she bounced the Alien baby gently. Nora almost smiled, remembering times when she and the other kids were younger, they used to bug Winn. He would get so mad, but it would never last long.

“You're both rats-- I'll be back in an hour.” he started to leave then paused. “I didn't mean that you're great kids don't tell Kara I called you that.”

“Bye, uncle Winn,” Nora waved the babies hand at him.

“I'm doing this for you, not the bundle of screams and fangs.” he made a face before heading out.

“He’s just mad because I made him hold her and she bit him,” Alex rolled her eyes. “He's a big baby.”

The three of them headed up to Alex’s lab. They all seemed to sit in silence until Winn returned with a laundry basket. Nora started to warm up the water before filling the sink. She set the laundry basket inside so the baby would have something to sit up against.

She was completely silent as she placed the baby in the water, making sure her tail was carefully curled up beside her.

“She needs to soak for at least fifteen minutes.”

“Mom, I think Kara has that thing she needs help with,” said James suddenly.

“Okay,” Alex said softly, squeezing his shoulder before leaving to give him a moment alone with his friend.

“She's kinda cute, once you get past the biting,” James spoke carefully and Nora could tell he was walking on eggshells around her.

“I know what you're doing. So stop it,” Nora focused on keeping the baby from getting bored, and making sure she stayed put in the makeshift bath.

“You know I'm here for you, right? We all are, Nor,” he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but she dodged him.

“I'm fine, J.D.,” she said seriously, firmly shutting him out.

“You haven't called me J.D. since we were like seven,” he crossed his arms.

“What do you want me to say, James?” she threw her arms down to her sides. “Tell me what you want me to say.” she was on edge, she had a lot of anger locked inside surrounding the current events.

“I want you to say _something_ , Nora. We are all worried sick about you. You won't return any of our messages, or answer our calls. Even your mother is worried sick. Nora, don't lock up like Dante did, let us in. We are all going through this together.”

“My parents have family pictures all over the house, there isn't a single photo of me in that house that Dante isn’t in too. I can't even not think about it-- it's just staring me in the face that my best friend is lost out there. You have no idea what I'm going through.”

“Tell us that, then, Nora! If you keep locking yourself up you’re going to explode. I love Dante too.”

“I'll be fine James. I know what I’m doing.” she started to carefully peel some shed off of the baby.

“If you think I'm going to sit here and watch you destroy yourself then you clearly don't know me very well,” he grabbed her arm. “I know with Dante gone you feel like you have to be the rock but you don't. We’re all in this, that's the first rule of being in a family like ours. We do not do anything alone.”

Something in what he said got through to her and she threw her arms around his middle and her face buried itself in his chest. “I'm sorry,” she breathed against his shirt. “I'm sorry James. I didn't mean to shut you out.”

He was jolted slightly but the sudden movement but he wrapped his arms tightly around her. “Hey, it's okay,” he said softly, one hand moving to stroke her hair. He felt the moisture on his shirt and sighed.

“They're losing hope that they’ll find him. I can see it in my dad's face every time we talk about it,” her fingers knotted into the back of his leather jacket, probably warping the hide it was made from but he didn't care.

“We’ll find him, Nora. I promise.” he realised then that her hands were shaking. “Nora, it's okay. We’re all in this with you.”

“James…” Nora started.

“It’s okay.”

“No ... James … either there's a gun in your pants or we need to back up a little.”

James laughed loudly, a deep rumbling laugh that shook his whole body. He tightened his arms around her. “It's a gun, don’t say anything to my mom though, please.” he pulled back and pulled the D.E.O. issued handgun. “I kind of lifted it from the armoury.” he quickly stashed it away again before any officers could notice.

Nora returned her attention to the baby, who couldn't be left alone for very long. She used the syringe to flush the skin around her eye with the war, water until the blue scale came off. “She's not blind, her eyecap just didn't come off. National City probably isn't humid enough for them to shed naturally.” she was pretty unaffected by the knowledge that her friend was carrying a gun. He certainly knew how to use it with his mom being D.E.O..

“Nora … I have to tell you something,” he came up behind her, starting to carefully peel the head skin from the babies hand.

“You can tell me anything, James.”

“Remember when my mom was talking about that Space Dad guy a few weeks ago …”

“Yeah?”

“It's me.”

“I want in,” Nora didn't even skip a beat.

“Alright,” he smiled. “I'm actually canvassing tonight, you can join me.”

“Cisco made me a suit. I'll go get it.”


End file.
